Norwegian continues to grow traffic in UK with launch of Caribbean routes

8 December 2015

Norwegian carried close to two million customers in November, an increase of 11 per cent, with the traffic figures characterised by growth on intercontinental and European routes.

New routes and increased flights from UK airports helped fuel growth in November.

The low-cost airline carried 1,952,083 passengers in November, an increase of 11 per cent compared to the same month last year.

The total passenger traffic increased by 13 per cent while the capacity increased eight per cent during the month.

The load factor was 83.1 per cent, up 4.1 percentage points from the same month last year.

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Norwegian operated 99.7 per cent of its scheduled flights in November, of which 86.3 per cent departed on time.

UK activity has played an important role in Norwegian’s November growth with a new Caribbean route launched and additional long-haul flights at London Gatwick, as well as further new short-haul routes from Birmingham and Edinburgh Airports.

November also saw Norwegian granted a UK Operating License allowing a new ‘Norwegian UK’ subsidiary to be established.

Norwegian chief executive Bjørn Kjos said: “I’m very pleased that our positive growth continued in November, as we are entering a period of typically lower demand for air travel.

“A growing number of travellers are taking advantage of Norwegian’s expansive route network in Europe to connect onwards to the US - this proves that a strong Norwegian in Europe further strengthens the long-haul operation and vice versa.

“UK activity continues to fuel Norwegian’s growth including new long-haul routes and increased flights out of Gatwick, as well as further expansion at Birmingham and Edinburgh.

“With a new ‘Norwegian UK’ subsidiary now being established, the UK market will be crucial to our growth plans for 2016.”